Death Valley

We could easily have spent more time in Vegas. There's so much to see and do, that I was sad to leave this morning. 

We set off south then west into Death Valley National Park. It's an enormous park of wildly varying elevations. Snow on the peaks, and high temperatures at the parks lowest point, 200 plus feet below sea level! 

Windflowers lined the highway, and there were grass tussocks throughout much of the desert. Some areas were huge expanses of nothing but rock and sand and dirt. All different colours. A sight worth seeing. 

We left Death Valley pointing straight at the impressive Sierra Nevadas, and the highest peak in the lower 48 states, Mt Whitney, 14,494 feet, and still covered in snow. We turned south and drove along the eastern side of the range, dropping into LA from the north. 

It was an 8 hour drive, with only short stops during the day. The traffic outbound was bumper to bumper with people leaving the city for home, but luckily it was breezy inbound.